Simplify Sunday

Debby McCuiston, the “Queen of Clutter-Free”, does a segment for us each Sunday on simplifying our lives, getting rid of “clutter”, and focusing on what’s important. We look forward to her words of wisdom each week & hope you enjoy it too! Take it away Debby….

I must be honest the last 2 weeks have been a bit rough! I am one of those people who eat when I am stressed, happy, sad, lonely, busy or bored. In reality, I can justify eating for any reason. The good news is that I am learning to recognize this and can even pinpoint the source of the problem. Not that it keeps me from mindless eating at times but it is getting better.

Two weeks ago on a sunny Sunday afternoon I received a phone call from one of my little ones. She wanted to go bike riding while her parents were turkey hunting. Needless to say, anytime I get to spend extra time with my younger friends I am all for it. I haven’t been on my bike since last summer so I knew I would be a little rusty. Surprisingly, I proved the theory that you never forget how to ride a bike. I may not have forgotten how to ride a bike but I did forgot that I do not have the balance and reflexes of a ten year old. I bolted downhill without my hands on the brakes…uh oh…oh no…not going to end well. I can’t remember ever having a bike wreck but I can now say I made up for it in one second of bad judgment.

I remember saying, “oh stink this is going to hurt” right before my head (yes, I had my helmet on) hit the pavement. IT HURT—BAD!! Thank the Lord I didn’t break anything!! I was hurt, scraped and bruised from top to bottom, but my ego hurt worse.

3. The older you are the longer it takes to heal and get back on a bike (gone are the days of jumping on the bike and riding home).

4. I can decide if this becomes an excuse not to get back on the bike or just a bump in the road on the way to a healthier life (I plan on taking a bike ride this afternoon).

Over the past 2 weeks I have woken up to find a new bruise or sore muscle. I didn’t realize how many muscles and joints could hurt just from falling off of a bike. Head to toe, there must be one million different spots that can hurt at any time.

Within the first hour after the “accident” I realized it may be awhile before I could get back to exercising. I had worked very hard to get in the habit of exercising daily and it made me angry that my hard work was going to be derailed by something as basic as a bike ride. So I decided to have a poor pitiful me party…no guests invited. But a party with no friends is not a lot of fun. I realized that the one thing God called me to get straightened out during this season of my life was my health. It was also the same thing that Satan would try to use to defeat me. Well, that may have changed the game plan for a little while but I decided that it would not take me out of the game.

The other bump in my road occurred last week on April 11th. It was the sixth anniversary of the passing of my dad. Normally it’s a sad day, but this year it hit me a little harder. I found old habits creep back in during the sad times. I found myself hunting for something to eat that wasn’t on my plan. I couldn’t figure why, on this day, did this have to be such a battle. I determined that I would not deviate from the plan. I let myself think about the good memories but had to push away the food that always surrounded those memories. The hardest part was when I called my mom to check on her. She told me all about the big cheesy pepperoni pizza that my sister, her family and my mom had for dinner to celebrate my dad’s life. It sounded so good I could almost taste it, but had to fight the call from the nearest pizza place to loose myself in a big ooey-gooey pizza. Once again I saw the thing that Satan will use to derail the calling that God has given me. He will use anything to keep us from reaching the thing we want more than anything (to bring glory to our heavenly Father).

So here it is…what am I willing to do to get to where God has called me to be? I know He has something great at the end of this journey He has called me to travel (this season of my life). I know it because Satan is working very hard to keep me from reaching the goal. Some people would question the reasoning that Satan attacks us at such basic levels. I know he does and if he can get us

to not understand God’s calling on our life, he can keep us from realizing what we are to do and why.

So it’s time to stand up and claim the calling God has for you. We are all in different seasons of our life and the calling He has for each of us is as personal and individual as we are. If you are a young mom – you may be called to raise Godly children or if you work outside the home – you may be called to live a life of hope and healing that will speak of God’s power in other’s lives. Maybe you are in the same season as I am and needing to focus on your health. I will be honest…it isn’t easy, but whatever God has in store is worth it all.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to do what God has called you to? Today I am. Tomorrow may be a struggle, but I will stand up and fight! I know the winds will blow and it will get hard. I may fall (right into a pepperoni pizza) but I will get up, dust myself off and stand again. There will be more falls and I may stay there longer some days, but I will stand up. I will get stronger and will stand up faster. Before long I won’t fall so quickly or easily. Does that mean the battle is over? No, not until God says it is and there is another job to do or another battle to win. It’s during the battle that we can be used. It’s when we are dodging the bullets that we can share the most and it’s during the struggle to get up again that we can encourage others to keep going because the battle is worth the reward.

Don’t look for me on the front porch drinking sweet tea; I will be the old lady riding the bike yelling “come on the ride is worth it all”!